So we made it here to Birmingham and how ironic that we went to visit the Museum on one of the nicest days we have experienced lately. It was custom made for Spirit who had to wait outside in the sidecar, giving us a chance however to go for walks every couple hours only wearing a T shirt! I keep thinking that even if you do not care for motorcycles, or cars for that matter, a visit to Barber is a must. It will leave you speechless as it did to me, the building itself is Art and the whole experience is worth and more its $10 entry fee! They actually have a special for 3 days, Friday~Saturday~Sunday, for $15! The problem isâ€¦ too many picture! They are all going on my SmuMug Gallery soon which I will give out its link, in the meantime enjoy the ones posted as there will also be more of them on the site next time.
You be wellâ€¦ Ara & Spirit

The pictures are still endless but I am almost done working on sorting them out for the picture Gallery! In the meantime I posted some interesting ones on the site, including my favorite, one of them anyhow, the full dressed Vincent, which ironically did not sell well.
We have arrived in Memphis, and getting ready to learn what all the fuss about Graceland isâ€¦ camera is also readyâ€¦ Spirit will have to stay behind for a few hours. I need to find out if Elvis had a dog and what kind! Should be an interesting dayâ€¦
I cannot help posting a picture of Spirit while visiting second graders in Birmingham, which I will write about also next time! You knowâ€¦ those Pits labeled â€œmeanâ€

Like old buddies!!! I love taking pictures of dogs playing... at 5 frames per second there are always surprises!!!

To Albuquerque, NM

Try spelling that word without looking!
We end up using all three free nights of camping the City of Slaton gave us as we had to regroup yesterday. What is regroup? Just a feeling that we are caught up with everything including replying e mails, baking some Treats, cleaning, filing pictures, roasting coffee andâ€¦ taking a nap! That is â€œregroupâ€

We are in Moab todayâ€¦ as soon as we made that eastbound turn on 550, a bit north of Albuquerque, big empty and vast spaces presented themselves and suddenly it was as if another new page of this Journey had been turned. Peaceful, calm and serene, mountain tops covered with snow, cattle grazing in search of green patches, it was as we had never left the West. We stopped many times as the weather cooperated fully with our last leg of this transition, lucky I was thinking having missed the horrible snow storms that hit the towns we had just come through.
My first picture here on our way near a few miles from Moab!â€¦ The story of a T shirt, new friends and a Wind Mill Museum on the Blogâ€¦
You be wellâ€¦ come and visit!â€¦ we will be here a while.

I think the decision to come here and spend some time was a good one. Diversified for many there is much to do for everyone that loves the outdoor, from the simple hiking (inexpensiveâ€¦) to photography combined, on and off road bicycling and motorcycling, 4x4 jeep rock crawling, rafting, fishing, snow skiing in the winter times and I am sure I am forgetting something.
The town this week is filling up as the Jeep Safari event is taking place and yet the area is so vast that we can get away in other directions and find peace and tranquility.
Still cold specially in the early morning hours, we have yet to witness a sunrise in front of some red rocks glowing as on fire, but that will come soon. We are just exploring the different roads, trying to find some dog friendly lands unlike the National Parks, there are many.
Enjoy the Blogâ€¦
Be wellâ€¦ Ara & Spirit

So today I wrote a controversial Blog! So I have been told, all in a positive well mannered as always fashion. I generally do not dwell on situations, the words are there, they had to come out at the risk of offending some maybe which is not my style, but, it is in black and white, it is reality, nothing else. Truly nothing offending! Will there be a Lifestyle change or notâ€¦ all I can say is once the words have been out I have felt filled again with much freedom as to the outcome of this Journeyâ€¦
My tire is late, maybe tomorrow. We have been staying on black top discovering more and more many trails we will be able to ride without great difficulty. I have only seen them from the distance and the views are just spectacular as in â€œDead Horse State Parkâ€

This is one road to mark on your map, you will need a 4x4 or a dual sport motorcycle, nothing too dramatic but rough in some places. A cattle trail established in 1917, constructed further into a truck route and finished in 1952 for the ore and uranium miners, it is now used for the lucky ones that can drive it, ride it and also bicycle it. It is so humbling to traverse the canyon with the thought that all this was started 300 million years ago, one day at the time, erosion slowly with no help of human hands or mind delivering this Artwork for us to be privileged to be on. It is a geology class, it is a photography class, a spiritual journey for most it is, you just need to experience it some dayâ€¦ soon. There is no doubt that we will be going back while here, so much yet to witness.
Enjoy the Blogâ€¦ and be well.
Ara & Spirit

Last night we had to tow the rig back to camp after some a bit to rough riding, a deep creek crossing and the engine dying a couple miles after. 24 hrs hours later with much help from friends, it seems that it is the HECâ€¦
Hall Effect Sensorâ€¦ ignorant me, never heard of that animal lounging around deep down somewhere in the midst of all the running parts. Seems like they only last about 50,000 miles, this one must be a record with 182,000 miles on it. Repeat moisture and finally much steam from a deep bath we think gave it its final spark! So we are leaving for Salt Lake City tomorrow, a new part is already on its way to meet us at the shop we are going to! The support on the road is incredible. After posting my trouble, not even an hour later that the diagnostic replies where coming in.
We will be back here in Moab when we are all fixed up!â€¦
On the Blog, the last of the Potash Trail, definitely a road worth taking more than once as we will do again soonâ€¦
Be wellâ€¦ Ara & Spirit

A record or what?â€¦ considering being 230 miles away from the shop! 72 hours later Old Faithful is running again and we are so ready for some long, did I sayâ€¦ long rides!
I guess I do not do too well without the rig at handâ€¦ kind of lost, feel a bit trapped, immobileâ€¦ even Spirit gets into this lethargic mood, eats less and asks too many questions!
I just find it amazing that the â€œdiagnosisâ€

I hope that things do not come in 3’s as the saying goes! Ignition sensor last week… this week is the starter! Transportation is the problem if we have it rebuilt, but with this kind of mileage will have to bite the bullet and have a new one installed. We will be in Durango on Tuesday night to exchange it on Wednesday, remain in southern Utah for a bit while there and then return. In such events the situation is a bit more complicated when one lives on the road!I am drawn to this Park again and again. The colors and shapes and shadows are different every time we ride through, we are also trying to not adventure ourselves right now in desolate places just in case the starter decided to totally quit!… Just grinds a bit now… message received!So again I took a bunch of pictures while doing some hiking. It is, they are on the Blog…Be well… Ara & Spirit

The town is right now a weekend conversion destination for so many activities and quiet during the week seemingly the locals taking over. It is a nice town and I thought I would post some pictures of it. We are getting ready to leave here Tuesday morning for Durango, exchange this starter which has so far, grinding or not, has done well and have not let us stranded.It will probably take us a couple weeks to return, Mexican Hat, Four Corners, Valley of the Gods, Monument Valley and Natural Bridges are all going to be destinations! Much to see and I am excited about the photography end of it. Hope the weather is conductive to it!Check out the town on the Blog!Be well… Ara & Spirit

Short travel from Moab to Durango, AZ, nice scenery with the hills covered with snow and not much else. The new starter is here and we are camping out a few feet from “Basin Motorcycles Works” (BMW… how smart!), a small shop run by Harry. We should be out of here by noon tomorrow and back to Utah/Az.The more I am reading about the area we are going, the more I am discovering sights not to miss. As “Antelope Slot Canyon”… “Coyote Butte” and “the Wave” where they only allow 20 people a day with unbelievable pictures! “Mule Point” at the end of “Moki Dugway”… much more. I overlooked the fact that this area is so rich, also a Navajo Pow Wow this coming weekend in Page that I would really like to attend and some awesome roads.I have to curb my enthusiasm and take it one day at the time…On the Blog… some interesting double takes!Be well… Ara & Spirit